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Let us see, then, how far this untried mode of proceeding would be either useful or practicable.

I hold it as certain, that under the bill, as it originally stood, it was only special verdicts of fact that could be received. For example, in the simplest instance of an action for debt, the jury could not find that the defender owed the pursuer the sum libelled. They could only find, that, on a certain occasion, the defender purchased from the pursuer the articles at the price libelled, and had not produced evidence of payment *.

In cases of this sort a verdict might be made up, and it would afford ample ground for a judgment in law. But in all cases of a more involved nature, I think it is obvious, that it would be impossible for a jury to compress, within the limits of a verdict, any such complete view of the facts proved, as might afford safe grounds for the subsequent judgment of a court of law, which was a stranger to the evidence. I need not state examples to this effect. They will readily occur to your own mind; and such of the members of our body as have ever conducted court business will at once perceive the difficulty which I have stated. What sort of verdict stating mere results, I would ask, could ever convey an adequate idea of the facts proved in a declarator of property founded on possession? Or how could a jury proceed in the general class of mercantile cases, questions of insurance, or in any case, indeed, depending upon intention and bona fides?

In all instances of this sort, the jury, in my opinion, could get out of their dilemma only by retaining a

• It was understood, I presume, that even under the old bill, questions of law, arising out of the evidence, necessary, of course, to be determined before proceeding, fell within the cognizance of the New Court. The objection to the bill, therefore, did not rest on that particular.

short-hand writer, and reporting the whole proof, in a verdict, which, bound and lettered, would form a handsome volume, to be placed in the records of the Court, by the side of some of those voluminous extracts, the abolition of which would thus be so amply compensated. I am perfectly serious in making this statement. I do not see that justice could be done either to the witnesses or to the parties in any other way. The notes of the presiding Judge may be sufficient for enabling him to charge the jury, or to correct the parties in any false statement; but even a verdict as comprehensive as these notes, intelligible, perhaps, only to those who could supply its defects by a recollection of the evidence, would be insufficient for a stranger court, discharging by far the most important duty to the parties, by pronouncing judgment in point of law, a proceeding obviously requiring the most perfect information to render it safe or just.

It may perhaps be urged here, that parties find means, in the most involved cases, to reduce their statements, however various, to a condescendence. Your experience, however, will remind you how greatly they fail, when they come to give a statement of their case in the shape of answers, to bring their allegations within any reasonable compass. But there is a much more important consideration, which will at once strike you as doing away the argument founded on this part of our practice. The Court, according to their older rules, were in use to pronounce judgment, a priori, upon the relevancy of condescendences, (before they went to proof,) but this practice is, in modern times, entirely abandoned, and proof is, in every instance, allowed before answer; so that the whole case, fact and law united, may come fully in the end for judgment. What is the cause of this change? Is it not, that statements of fact will always become so varied and coloured

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coloured by the little incidents continually arising out of a proof, that they could not be duly appreciated without that full detail which is yielded by a proof alone? But can a verdict be in any way rendered more special than a condescendence and answers?

The trial of a general issue, as I understand, is similar to a determination or a proof granted before answer; and it is curious to observe, that while in our quarter of the island the old practice of previous determination on the relevancy has gradually worn out, a similar progress has taken place in England, where we are informed that general issues are now taken in almost all cases, and the old system nearly exploded.

Such, to my mind, was the force of these considerations, that I did not conceive the jury bill could be rendered practically useful, unless it established an independent jury chamber, (controuled, perhaps, by a court of review, for, averse as I am to the increase of patronage, I am doubtful how far such an institution will not yet be found necessary,) where trial might take place by general or special issues, according as the circumstances of the case demanded or admitted: and to this situation, I am convinced, things will yet come, when the public mind is reconciled to the new mode of procedure.

But I must now confess, that I am satisfied, upon the whole, with the amendment of the bill, which retains the Courts as originally proposed, but extends the powers of juries,-as being likely to yield to the country as much of the benefit of jury-trial as is consistent with the caution that ought to guide every experiment upon established institutions. It renders the new Court competent to the trial of general issues; but it requires the authority of the Court of Session, in every individual instance, before such trial can be obtained. In this way, I make no doubt, that whenever the

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circumstances of a case appear to admit of a special verdict, an issue will be framed for that purpose, and a special verdict will be required. Where a case of an opposite description occurs, which is a fit subject for jury trial, a general issue will be permitted and in this way the country and the law will be protected from any great danger in the administration of the new bill.

Some of the objections which are made to the trial of general issues, resolve, in fact, into doubts regarding the expediency of jury trial in civil cases, considered as an abstract gergral question; and if you examine them minutely, you will find this to be the situation of by far the greater number. Indeed, if the preceding arguments be correct, according to which this mode of proceeding is es sential in the great majority of instances, it is evident that this must necessarily be the case with them. But I am not bound to discuss this general question. If I did, I should perhaps displease all parties, by neither indulging in the encomiums which, in some quarters, are lavished on the institution, nor defending it on the same grounds which are ge nerally assumed.

This, however, as I have said, is a question not now before the Society. Presuming, therefore, that jury trial is a good thing, I am thus of opinion, that the right of trying general issues is essential to its establishment; and, on the same ground, being taught by the opinions of our greatest law authorities, that the unanimity of juries is essential to the safe trial of general issues, it follows that we should consent to the experiment (temporary as it must be, if unjust) of requiring agreed verdicts. On the other point, I do not consider it of much conse quence, how far the clause regula ting the qualification of the Judges ought to be admitted; but I am sure, if my name could he of any use to a

petition

petition on the subject, it should not be withheld.

Having now brought this letter to a close, I must apologise both for writing it, and for making it so long. I fear that it may betray much ignorance on many subjects, and particularly on those which are connected with the practice of English law. But it cannot be disagreeable to the society, however unavailing, that some discussion should take place on a subject, where they are at variance with the legislature, and where there is reason to suppose that their present opinions will not be sanctioned by the bill which is now so near being enacted into a law.

I have the honour to be, SIR, your most obedient humble servant, Edinburgh March 13, 1815.

J. B.

MONTHLY MEMORANDA IN NATURAL

HISTORY.

SEA-Cale. It had long been known that the common people on the West coast of England, where this plant (Crambe maritima) grows plentifully on the sandy and gravelly beaches, were in the practice of watching when the shoots began to push thro' the sand or gravel in April, and of cutting off the new growth, which was thus blanched and tender, and using it as a great delicacy. The plant was introduced into kitchen gardens half a century ago. About the year 1767 it was first brought inte notice in the neighbourhood of London, by Dr Lettsom, who cultivated it in his garden at Grove Hill. Twenty years afterwards, a detailed account of its culture and mode of use was given by the Rev. Mr Laurents, in the 3d vol. of Mr Young's

It is rare on our Scottish shores; but occurs on the beach at Caroline Park, near Edinburgh.

The late

Annals of Agriculture.
Mr Curtis, well known for his ele-
gant Flora Londinensis, his treatise
on Grasses, and Lectures on Botany,
soon afterwards published a little
book recommending the culture of
Crambe. In 1805, M. Maher read
a paper on its cultivation to the Hor-
ticultural Society of London, which
is printed in the first volume of their
Transactions; and since that time it
has become a pretty common vegeta-
ble in Covent Garden market.

In France the use of sea-cale as a culinary vegetable seems to be entirely unknown. Bastien, in an edition of his popular Manuel du Jardinier, published about six years ago, describes the Chou marin d'Angleterre correctly enough; but he appears to have tried to make a dish of the fullgrown leaves instead of the blanched shoots in early spring. A worse mess can hardly be imagined: it is little wonder therefore that he should say, "Cette espece n'a pas un merite bien distingué," and should resign it with a sneer to cold climates, “mais elle convient mieux que d'autres (other sorts of cabbage) dans des climats froids."

In Scotland, the excellence of crambe shoots has been known for many years, tho' the cultivation of the plant has only of late been much attended to. In the Gardeners' Dictionary, by James Gordon at Fountainbridge, near Edinburgh, published in 1774, instructions for its cultivation are given. He directs that the "beds of sea-cale should be annually covered, about four inches deep, with sand or gravel, in October or November. In the following April or May the shoots (he remarks) will be observed pushing up the gravel; this is to be removed, and the shoots to be cut off; being blanched in the covering of gravel, they are very tender and sweet; they are eaten as asparagus or broccoli, and much esteemed by many." This method of Mr Gor

don

don's is exactly copied from the practice of the country people on the coasts of Sussex and Dorset, already mentioned.

The late Mr Nicol, in his Kitchen Gardener, published in 1802, recommends only the drawing up of earth to the stems of the plant, in order to etiolate them, in other respects following the asparagus mode of culture. In his Gardeners' Kalendar, however, written in 1809, he gives improved directions for promoting the blanch ing, recommending that the beds should with this view be hooped over and covered with mats, or that a large flower-pot should be inverted over the plants. He also, in this work, for the first time, gives directions for the forcing of sea cale; and he describes blanching-pots made with moveable covers, which are found very convenient.

In 1812, Sir George Mackenzie, Bart. (a gentleman indefatigable in encouraging and promoting improvements of every kind) communicated to the Caledonian Horticultural Society, a simple and easy method of blanching sea cale, which he had caused his gardener at Coul to practise with success. This consisted merely in covering the beds with clean dry straw, to be changed when it becomes very wet or heavy. Oat-straw, broken in the thrashing-mill, is to be preferred. Sir George Mackenzie's paper is printed in the first volume of the Memoirs of that Society, p. 313. In the same volume, p. 383, Mr Gibbs, nursery man at Inverness, gives an account of his forcing sea-cale in a hotbed frame in the manner of asparagus, so as to have it fit for cutting from November to January.

Mr Barton, gardener at Bothwell Castle, we may mention, covers the beds of sea-cale with leaves in autumn, as they fall from the trees, and are raked off the shrubberies or walks, adding a very slight covering of long dung, sufficient only to keep the

leaves from blowing about. The seacale shoots rise quite sweet among the leaves, very early in the spring, being in some measure forced, and etiolatio: is at the same time accomplished.

By the various improvements, there fore, of late years, made in the cul ture of sea-cale, this desirable vegeta ble may be commanded for table with very little trouble, any tim from November till May. This long period includes the whole dead month of the year; and it may be affirmed that sea cale shoots, when duly blanch ed, are not inferior to asparagus when boiled, and form an excellent ingre dient for soups. Not only the head or shoot (sometimes also called the crown) is fit for use, but the blanched stalks of the unfolding leaves, four or five of which are attached to each head. Before boiling, these are to be detached, and tied along with the heads into small bundles, like aspara gus. It is a vegetable which cannot, (as remarked by Sir G. Mackenzie) easily be over done: it should be well drained, and then suffered to remain a few minutes before the bre that a farther portion of moisture may be exhaled.

th

Last year, sea-cale appeared for the first time, it is believed, in the Ed inburgh market. The retailers wer not acquainted with it, and gave little encouragement. This year Caledonian Horticultural Society ha very properly offered a premium the gardener who shall bring to mai ket the largest quantity. Last mont accordingly, sea-cale appeared in of green market, and was sold at 9d. Is. a head. This month the pri has fallen to 6d. a head. But whe the culture has become more com

mon, the price may be reduced to a head, with ample profit to the raise From four to six heads, according the size, make a tolerable dish.

The most effectual way of enco raging the cultivation of this or other culinary plant, is to create dema

demand for the article. If the inhabitants of Edinburgh enquire for sea-cale in the green market, this delicious vegetable will soon appear as regularly on the stalls as asparagus or broccoli.

CANONMILLS, 28th March 1815.

}

N.

on the canker in fruit trees, and on the circumstances to be attended to in making experiments or observations concerning its cause or cure; by Colonel Spens of Craigsanquhar. 2. Description of an improved steam hothouse, with plan and section; by Mr George Ogilvie, gardener to Lady Callender, at Preston-hall. 3. On the culture and management of the seacale, so as to command nearly a con

Proceedings of the Caledonian Horti- stant succession of the blanched

cultural Society.

AT the general meeting of the Caledonian Horticultural society, held on the 8th inst. (Dr Duncan, sen. in the chair,) a letter from the Ld. Chamberlain to his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch, president of the society, was read, stating that the first volume of the Society's Memoirs has been presented to the Prince Regent, and by him received very graciously.

The committee for prizes, considering that several very excellent specimens of late broccoli and Brussels sprouts had been produced, recommended that two premiums for each of these articles should be awarded, and they reported that the first prize for broccoli should be given Mr David Ford, gardener to the right honourable the Earl of Haddington, at Tyningham, and the second to Mr James Smith, gardener to the right honourable the Earl of Hopetoun, at Ormiston Hall; and the first prize for sprouts also to Mr Ford, and the second to Messrs Dicksons, brothers, Broughton nurseries. No early cuNo early cucumbers were produced.

A report from a committee appointed to examine a hot-bed frame, favour ably constructed by Mr Sanderson, gardener to Robert Stewart, Esq. of Alderstone, was read. The report was highly commendatory, and was referred to the consideration of the council.

The following communications were read at this meeting:-1. Remarks

stalks; by Mr Thomas Burton, gardener to Lord Douglas, Bothwell castle. The secretary read the titles of several other papers which were necessarily delayed, particularly an account of a hot-bed, on a new construction, by Mr Henderson, Brechin; on the culture of onions, by Mr Wallace, at Ballechin; on the caprification of figs, by Mr Kinmont, at Murie; on protecting blossoms by means of straw ropes, and by screens of oiled paper; and two essays on the curl in the potatoe.

The following new members were admitted :-Dr Adam Burt, and Dr Francis Buchanan, both of Bengal, to be honorary members ;-Alexander Guthrie, Esq. Edinburgh; Robert Mowbray, Esq. Leith; Alexander Murray Guthrie, Esq. of Craigie; David Gillespie, Esq. of Kirkton; James Baxter, Esq. Portobello; Mr John Reames, Glasgow; Mr John Peat, Edinburgh; James Erskine, Esq. advocate; Robert Scott, Esq. Edinburgh; John Anderson, Esq. Leith Walk, and Charles White, Esq. Leith, to be ordinary members; -and Mr John Reid, gardener to the Earl of Cassillis, at Culzean Castle, to be a corresponding member.

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